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Heart swelling with joy and her eyes tearing just a little, she laughed and basked in her son’s love. Soon enough he’d outgrow showering his affections on her, but for now she was the center of his world. She cherished each moment of his precious life.
She dropped to her knees and hugged her son to her, kissing the top of his shiny blond head. “I missed you today!”
She always missed him when they were apart. She loved her job, but nothing compared to the time she spent with Justice. Their son looked so much like Ross. Seeing him only reinforced how much Justice favored him. Same eyes, same mouth, same smile, same ability to twist her heart into a million pieces.
“Come look at what Uncle Vann and I made. A whole kingdom.” Just as quickly as his attention had turned to her, his focus was once again on what he and his uncle had been building. He tugged on her hand and led her to where Vann sat on the floor. “This is my castle and this is Uncle Vann’s. Mine’s stronger and has a magic force field.”
“A magic force field, eh? I didn’t even know they made magic force field building blocks,” Brielle mused, checking out their handiwork.
“Obviously you’ve been buying your blocks at the wrong stores,” Vann promptly informed her with a wink. “I did inform him that my castle has more heart.”
“Just ’cos he’s a heart doctor,” Justice explained, eyeing his uncle’s castle critically. “My castle has lotsa heart, too, plus the magic force field.”
As he had been much of Brielle’s life, her brother had been a godsend where Justice was concerned. Could she have survived those first few months of Justice’s life, helplessly watching her tiny premature son fight for every breath, every milestone without her brother’s unwavering support and love?
“Obviously,” Brielle agreed, her gaze falling on the new toy packaging on her sofa. She smiled, more grateful to her brother than words could ever convey. “You’ll have to let me in on the secret to knowing which packages contain the magic blocks.”
Vann and Justice exchanged glances. “Think we should train her on the secret ancient methods of sensing special powers?”
Justice considered his uncle’s question a moment then nodded. “She is my mom, you know.”
“I know...” Vann ruffled Justice’s hair “...but she’s also a girl. Sometimes we guys have to stick together, you know, look out for one another when it comes to womenfolk.”
“Moms aren’t real girls, Uncle Vann,” Justice explained with a “duh” expression, taking Brielle’s hand and pointing out different aspects of their handiwork. “’Mantha isn’t a real girl either. She’s nice.”
“Nice. Right,” Vann said with a touch of sarcasm, making Brielle wonder if he and Samantha were arguing again. After fifteen years of dating, you’d think they’d have worked out the kinks by now, but perhaps some couples never worked out all the kinks.
Brielle sat down on the floor cross-legged and pulled her son into her lap, hugging his wiggling, giggling body close to her, breathing in the scent of his shampoo. Happiness filled her. Life was good. She didn’t need anything more. Not a relationship with Ross or whatever he’d come to Bean’s Creek to accomplis
h. She didn’t need anything he could give her.
Not anything beyond what he’d already unknowingly given.
A big twinge twisted her heart like a dishrag.
She couldn’t imagine not knowing her son, not being a part of his daily life, all the firsts, all the adventures, all the day-to-day miracles of watching him grow. Just the thought of not having experienced those things with her son made her chest ache.
Made her question long-ago decisions.
Never had she meant to keep Justice from Ross. She’d repeatedly tried to tell him once she’d realized he wasn’t going to jump on board with getting married. Silly, but she’d hoped he’d take her hints and sweep her off her feet without her telling him her birth control had failed. She’d wanted him to propose because it was what he wanted, because she was the woman he wanted to spend his life with, not because they were going to be parents.
Instead, he’d balked.
Still, she’d meant to tell him, would have told him had he not kept interrupting her, telling her that they were finished and he wanted nothing more to do with her, and had she not been so devastated by what she’d seen when she’d gone to Boston to finally tell him.
She closed her eyes, breathed Justice in again, and reminded herself that she’d only given Ross exactly what he’d told her he wanted. She’d left him alone, let him live his life the way he wanted, and she hadn’t interfered with his dreams.
When she opened her eyes, her gaze met her brother’s. Something about how he watched her struck Brielle as odd. She couldn’t quite label the expression on his face, just knew something was going on in that brilliant mind of his besides which plastic block castle was his and which one was Justice’s.
Then again, they hadn’t had a chance to talk about Ross’s appearance. Vann had texted her the day before to tell her he’d pick Justice up from preschool so he could spend some time with his nephew and that he’d see her when she got home.
“Thanks for staying late,” she told him. “Sorry I called so last minute to make sure it was okay.”
“No problem. There’s leftover pizza in the kitchen,” her brother told her, watching her with an intensity she imagined he used while assessing his patients.
“Pizza!” Justice jumped up from her lap and grabbed hold of her hand, tugging her up. “Uncle Vann let me order whatever I wanted on our pizza. I don’t like black, uh—leaves.”
Brielle laughed at her son’s wrinkled nose and disgusted expression.
